Coupler arrangement

ABSTRACT

According to the disclosure, a railway vehicle coupler comprises a shank embraced by top and bottom straps of a conventional yoke for a conventional draft gear. A conventional pin extends through aligned pinholes in the shank and straps. The shank is specially contoured in the area of its pinhole to increase its strength and resistance to wear in railway service.

United States Patent Altherr [451 Jan. 18,1972

l54| COUPLER ARRANGEMENT [72] Inventor: Russell George Altherr, Munster, Ind.

[73] Assignee: Amsted Industries Incorporated, Chicago,

Ill.

[22] Filed: Sept. 2, 1970 [21] Appl. No.: 68,978

52 us. Cl ..213/69, 2l3/67 [51] Int. Cl ..B61g 9/00 [58] Field of Search ..213/62, 64, 67, 69 v [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Metzger ..2l3/69 3,011,656 12/1961 Metzger ..2l3/69 3,399,787 9/l968 Zanow ..2l3/69 3,568,857 3/1971 Altherr ..2l3/69 Primary Examiner-Drayton E. Hoffman Attorney-Walter L. Schlegel, Jr.

[ 5 7] ABSTRACT According to the disclosure, a railway vehicle coupler comprises a shank embraced by top and bottom straps of a conventional yoke for a conventional draft gear, A conventional pin extends through aligned pinholes in the shank and straps. The shank is specially contoured in the area of its pinhole to increase its strength and resistance to wear in railway service.

7 Claims, 9 Drawing Figures PATENTEDJAMWSYZ 3,635,358 SHEEI 3 OF 3 COUPLER ARRANGEMENT This application is a continuation-in-part of my copending application, Ser. No. 4l,487 filed May 28, 1970, now abandoned.

This invention relates to railway vehicle couplers and more particularly to a novel coupler shank which is stronger in its pinhole area than prior art shanks and which is more resistant to wear in that area than prior art shanks.

The invention will be understood by reference to the drawings, wherein:

,FIG. I is a central longitudinal vertical sectional view through the novel railway coupler shank at its connection to a draft gear yoke; I

FIG. 2 is an enlarged top plan view of the novel shank, partly in central horizontal section;

FIG. 3. is a side view, partly in central vertical section, of the structure shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a bottom plan view thereof;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view in aplane indicated by line 5-5 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view on line 6-6 of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a bottom plan view of a modified coupler shank embodying the invention;

FIG. 8 is a sectional view on line 8-8 of FIG. 9; and

FIG. 9 is a side elevational view partly in section along the plane indicated by line 9-9 of FIG. 7.

Describing the invention in detail, the novel coupler shank 10 is pivoted by a conventional pin 12 to spaced upper and lower straps l4 and 16 (FIG. 1) of a conventional yoke and has a butt 18 in complementary spherical face engagement at 20 with a conventional front follower 22 seated against the front end of a draft gear diagrammatically illustrated at 24.

The novel coupler shank 10 comprises a pinhole 25 partly defined by a particylindrical surface 26 struck from a radius R (FIG. 2) which is one-half the diameter of the cylindrical surface D of the pin. The surface 26 merges with spaced sidewalls 28 and 30 (FIG. 5) which converge toward each other downwardly toward the horizontal centerplane XX of the shank and also converge upwardly toward said plane as seen in FIG. 5 so that each wall 26 and 28 tapers toward said plane to accommodate limited rotational movement of the shank relative to the pin about the longitudinal axis of the shank 10.

The top and bottom of cylindrical surface 26 are beveled as at 32 and 34 respectively to minimize stress concentration in these areas.

The front surface 36 of pinhole 25 is tapered toward plane XX as best seen in FIG. 3 to accommodate limited vertical angling of the coupler shank 10.

The coupler shank comprises a flat surface 38 extending rearwardly from approximately three-quarters of an inch in front of the pinhole centerline to reduce local loading on the shank and to minimize wear of this surface and the mating yoke surface which results in coupler droop. These surfaces wear due to lateral and vertical angling and due to longitudinal motion during the application of forces resulting from the unbalanced weight of the head and from external vertical forces on the coupler headQThe flat surface is parallel to plane XX which is the horizontal centerplane of the shank when it is in its normal horizontal position.

Referring to FIG. 5, it will be seen that the surface 26 as seen in elevation from the front of the pinhole is in the form of a hexagon with the top and bottom sides shorter than the other four sides of the hexagon. This configuration is caused by blending of surfaces 32 and 34 with tapered sidewalls 28 and 30.

The foregoing structure has been verified by test to provide a 64 percent reduction in stress from the former standard C-F70A coupler shank and a 40 percent reduction in stress from the new standard F708 coupler shank both of which are adapted to receive a separable pin bearing block between the pin and the butt of the coupler shank.

Referring now to FIGS. 7 to 9, a modification of the coupler shank is disclosed wherein the surface 26' merges tangent to curved convex surfaces 52 and 54 preferably formed on radii R and, R' (FIG. 9) and extending upwardly and downwardly,

respectively, from surface 26 to maintain constant area of contact with the pin during relative vertical angling of the coupler shank. The radii R and R are preferably of the order of 20 inches and are preferably struck from points 56 and 58 about 1 inch from the centerline of the coupler shank.

Also the top and bottom of the pinhole 25 are preferably formed on radii 60 and 62, respectively.

As best seen in FIG. 8, surface 26 is hexagonal in shape but the top and bottom sides of the hexagon are longer than the other four sides thereof.

What is claimed is:

1. In a railway coupler mounting wherein a cylindrical pin extends through aligned pin holes in a coupler shank and in top and bottom yoke straps embracing the shank; the combination of a particylindrical concave surface defining the rear of said pin hole and struck from a radius which is one-half the diameter of said pin which is seated against said surface spaced from the front of said pinhole to accommodate limited vertical angling of the shank, said surface merging with spaced sidewalls of said pinhole, each of said sidewalls tapering toward the horizontal centerplane of said shank to accommodate limited rotational movement of the shank relative to the pin about the longitudinal axis of the shank, said surface being beveled at the top and bottom thereof to minimize stress concentration.

2. A railway coupler shank according to claim I wherein the particylindrical concave surface is in the form of a hexagon as seen in elevation from the front of the pinhole.

3. A railway coupler according to claim 2 wherein the top and bottom sides of the hexagon are shorter than the other sides thereof.

4. A railway coupler according to claim 2 wherein the top and bottom sides of the hexagon are longer than the other sides thereof.

5. A railway coupler according to claim 4 wherein the particylindrical surface is beveled by top and bottom arcuate convex areas as seen in central vertical section along the longitudinal centerline of the shank.

6. A railway coupler according to claim 5 wherein said areas are struck from spaced points rearwardly of the shank above and below, respectively, said centerline.

7. A railway coupler according to claim 1 wherein the top of the shank is formed with a flat surface extending rearwardly from a point forwardly of the centerline of the pinhole. said flat surface being parallel to the horizontal centerplane of the shank. 

1. In a railway coupler mounting wherein a cylindrical pin extends through aligned pin holes in a coupler shank and in top and bottom yoke straps embracing the shank; the combination of a particylindrical concave surface defining the rear of said pin hole and struck from a radius which is one-half the diameter of said pin which is seated against said surface spaced from the front of said pinhole to accommodate limited vertical angling of the shank, said surface merging with spaced sidewalls of said pinhole, each of said sidewalls tapering toward the horizontal centerplane of said shank to accommodate limited rotational movement of the shank relative to the pin about the longitudinal axis of the shank, said surface being beveled at the top and bottom thereof to minimize stress concentration.
 2. A railway coupler shank according to claim 1 wherein the particylindrical concave surface is in the form of a hexagon as seen in elevation from the front of the pinhole.
 3. A railway coupler according to claim 2 wherein the top and bottom sides of the hexagon are shorter than the other sides thereof.
 4. A railway coupler according to claim 2 wherein the top and bottom sides of the hexagon are longer than the other sides thereof.
 5. A railway coupler according to claim 4 wherein the particylindrical surface is beveled by top and bottom arcuate convex areas as seen in central vertical section along the longitudinal centerline of the shank.
 6. A railway coupler according to claim 5 wherein said areas are struck from spaced points rearwardly of the shank above and below, respectively, said centerline.
 7. A railway coupler according to claim 1 wherein the top of the shank is formed with a flat surface extending rearwardly from a point forwardly of the centerline of the pinhole, said flat surface being parallel to the horizontal centerplane of the shank. 